約四十年前，李金銓老師的一本傳播理論教科書意外地點燃台灣傳播學界師生對左派觀點的興趣，開啟往後台灣傳播產業的政治經濟學分析。此書有關傳播帝國主義的左右兩派理論反覆辯證，在那時極端右傾的政治氣氛與學界環境中，彷彿打開一扇往左看的窗。李老師博學多聞，著作等身，《媒介帝國主義再商榷》只是他豐富學術生涯的一個起點。如果這個起點是台灣傳播學界向左看的契機，也許值得順著他的眼光繼續探索左派在其視野中的可能與不可能。本文將回顧李老師在傳播研究上的政治經濟學分析，聚焦於他對馬克思主義、國家與階級、數位科技與平台、媒體專業主義與勞動的看法和評價，最後班門弄斧地提出仍未獲其青睞的政治經濟結構問題與值得關注的研究取向。

The interest in the leftist approaches within the academic circle of communication studies in Taiwan was sparked accidentally by Professor Chin-chuan Lee’s publication of a textbook on communication theories forty years ago. Since then, this textbook had fermented analyses of communication industries from the perspective of political economy. The debates around media imperialism between the Left and the Right illustrated in his book were so rare to be seen in the atmosphere of anti-communism of the early 1980s that such a simple textbook had turned out to be a precious window to the view of the Left. For an erudite scholar like Professor Lee, this textbook as well as his PhD thesis “Media Imperialism Reconsidered” are nothing but a beginning of a productive career. However, given that there was only negative image of Marxism before, it may be worth following Professor Lee’s vision for further exploration into the possibilities and impossibilities of the Left in communication studies. The paper thus reexamines the role of political economy in Professor Lee’s communication research, with the focus upon his evaluation of Marxism, state-and-class relationship, digital technologies and platforms, media labor and professionalism. In addition to that, taking the risk of attempting too much, some structural problems and theoretical potentials revealed by the Left but downplayed by him are tentatively highlighted.